, Feb 9, 2004 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The controller of BBC Scotland defended the broadcaster’s coverage of the Catholic Church yesterday after Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow took the BBC to task for encouraging "a tabloid culture" and for demonstrating a "gross insensitivity" to the Church. The archbishop made these comments in a letter published in The Herald Feb. 4.

John McCormick dismissed the archbishop’s attack on the corporation as "unfounded and unjustifiable", and cited support from the Scottish Religious Advisory Committee.

McCormick, whose letter appeared in The Herald Feb. 8, says the archbishop “selects three examples from our UK output to support his case, one of which has not been broadcast, ignoring the totality of our program provision."

But a spokesman for the archbishop told The Herald that the Catholic Church, “like other institutions, besides government, have had cause for complaint in recent years at some of the BBC's editorial stances.

"At this time, when the governors are reflecting on the corporation's future, it is wholly appropriate to make those concerns known,” a spokesman for the archbishop told The Herald. “It is reassuring to note the archbishop's comments are being taken seriously at the highest levels of the corporation," he said.